The European Commission, which controls one of the world's largest science budgets, has backed calls for free access to publicly funded research in a move that could force a major change in the business model for publishers such as Reed Elsevier.

The debate over free access to publicly-funded scientific research will shift to the European Commission after the UK government backed a report calling for financial support for researchers to use so-called 'open access' science journals.

On July 12, Jennifer Lin, Product Manager at PLoS, gave an in-depth look at the the current status of Article Level Metrics, a discussion of what has been learned to date, and a glimpse into what is on the horizon for their further development and wider adoption.

SPARC Europe welcomes the UK Government’s positive interest in Open Access and the Finch report on expanding access to research publications. We are pleased that the issue has gained recognition for its importance and the benefits it can bring.

First, the World Bank first made its data freely available. Then, it launched its Open Knowledge Repository and began using Creative Commons licenses. On July 1, it will implement a new Open Access policy for all of its research outputs and knowledge products.

The new president of the University of Missouri — who came from the world of business — decided to close the university's press rather than make up a shortfall in its $400,000 a year budget. That has sparked a protest movement in the academic world, which is worried about the incursion of corporate values into academia. There is special concern about what the closing may mean for academic research into the work of Langston Hughes. The collected work of Hughes is published by the University of Missouri press.

Project Euclid is pleased to announce the availability of the journal Bayesian Analysis, published by the International Society for Bayesian Analysis (ISBA). This journal was founded in 2006 to promote the development and application of Bayesian analysis useful in the solution of theoretical and applied problems in science, industry and government. Bayesian Analysis seeks to publish a wide range of articles that demonstrate or discuss Bayesian methods in some theoretical or applied context. The journal welcomes submissions involving presentation of new computational and statistical methods; reviews, criticism, and discussion of existing approaches; historical perspectives; description of important scientific or policy application areas; case studies; and methods for experimental design, data collection, data sharing, or data mining. Bayesian Analysis is published four times a year, and the entire corpus of 7 volumes are available on an Open Access basis.
Many thanks to the President-elect of the ISBA, Merlise A. Clyde, Professor of Statistical Science, Duke University, and graduate students from Duke University, Anjishnu Banerjee, Fernando Bonassi, Andrew Cron, Chris Challis, Tommy Leininger, Jared Murray, Silvia Montagna, Thais Paiva, Maria Terres, and Fango Wang for their commitment to making this important new addition to Project Euclid possible. Special thanks to Bayesian Analysis Systems Managing Editor, Pantelis Vlachos of Merk Serono, for providing back content.